


How on earth did you two fall in love?

by paxatonic



Series: teachers au [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Married Couple, Teacher Steve, Teacher Tony, story time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 23:38:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10932396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paxatonic/pseuds/paxatonic
Summary: SHEILD high's most loved teacher and most hated teacher are married. One day Steve's students ask him how on earth that happened, and he tells them.





	How on earth did you two fall in love?

 

The hall was almost empty as the bell rang, causing a few of the students left to jump and scurry off to class while others stayed at the same pace or arrived at their locker for the first time of the day with a sigh. Tony frowned at the lurkers, barking out a, “get to class!” that made a few more students hurry up.

Steve rolled his eyes but smiled, grabbing his husband’s hand. “Leave them alone, Tony. We’re just as bad as them.”

“Yeah, well, that’s your fault; you’re freakishly attractive in the morning.” Tony whispered in Steve’s ear and chuckled, bumping their shoulders. They slowed to a stop outside of Steve’s class, where thankfully another staff member had let all of the students in.

“See you at lunch?”

“Sure thing.” Tony smiled and kissed Steve’s cheek, letting go of his hand and going off towards his classroom.

Turning, Steve could see his students watching him from inside, as many that could crane their heads far enough to get a look. He shook his head and walked inside, dropping his suitcase besides his desk and shrugging off his jacket. “Sorry, guys. Traffic.”

“Mr. Rogers?” A girl in the front row stuck her hand up in their air, despite already having his attention.

“Yeah, Alexis?” He nodded.

“We were wondering…” She hesitated, and Steve prayed it was a history question. Not likely. “ _ How on earth _ did you and Mr. Stark fall in love? It’s just, well, you two are so different…”

He sighed, leaning against the white board and crossing his arms. From the look on his student’s face they weren’t going to give up, and he’s told the story so many times before, so why not? “Alright, but if I tell you I’m expecting a full  _ hour _ of hard work on the reading for today. And no moving seats.”

No one put up a fight so they all obviously thought it was worth it. Shaking his head slightly he sighed, recounting the time.

 

-

 

Everyone always told Steve that he should be a kindergarten teacher. He was good with little kids, and so enthusiastic about learning; he’d do great. That or a professor, with kids who actually wanted to be there. But when he told people he wanted to teach history to high schoolers, most people winced and gave him a pitiful “good luck with that.”

And yeah, it was hell. He knew well before he even tried student teaching that it would suck, but he was willing to work as hard as it took. At first he was too overbearing, and got frustrated with kids a lot- he’d never imagined teachers had it _this_ bad- but over time he’d gotten the hang of what worked and what didn’t, how to talk to kids, when to back off, how to level with them and have fun while teaching one of the most hated subjects. So he went through hell and came out of it with a smile.

Tony Stark couldn’t say the same.

Tony had gone to private schools all his life, and while he wasn’t that nice to his teachers it was only because he was usually smarter than them. When he found a passion in teaching, he’d imagined they would be thankful to have a genius like him be able to give them the amazing education that everyone deserved.

He was wrong.

While student teaching scared him straight on a few things, he never gave up. Not a single kid was a lost cause to him; he was convinced that everyone could learn physics if they really tried. You don’t need money or a predisposition- most of these kids were just regurgitating the same stuff that’d people had told them to put them down, tell them they couldn’t do it, when they could. He was sure. 

He was either too passionate or too stubborn. He didn’t really see the difference.

Tony’s always taken to being stricter to get his point across. He could be a little harsh, but only because he believed the kids could do it and was disappointed they weren’t trying. Of course, no one would ever be able to tell, since he acted like an ass outside of the classroom, too.

Tony had been at SHEILD high for a few years when Steve came along, hired on by Fury because they were always looking for young teachers who were good at what they did. Being in different departments the two didn’t meet for the entire first semester, but they both were infamous in their own respects: the most loved and the most hated teachers.

Steve was critical of Tony, to say the least. He was a firm believer that a happy work environment was more effective, that kids should get plenty of self-directed work, that we should measure improvement, and basically everything that Tony didn’t do. Tony was heavy on lectures, rules, and standardized tests. Even their classrooms were structured differently; Steve had a carpeted classroom with tables and art and historical posters hanging on the walls among student work while Tony had a tiled room with mainly blank white walls and desks save for the cold black lab tables.

And the stories Steve heard about the other man, too: kids crying in class, breaking under exam pressure, giving up on dreams of science careers because of his comments. If there was one thing Steve hated in his career, it was teachers who genuinely didn’t like kids.  Tony had heard things that didn’t exactly impress him, either; that kids were constantly turning in late work, that is was a guaranteed A class, that the man gave help to kids during the exam. Tony’s biggest pet peeve was lax teachers who passed kids who hadn’t earned it. 

So, it was safe to say they didn’t really like each other. But then there was the staff holiday party.

Steve had happily volunteered to help plan the whole thing, and Fury had made Bruce, the chem teacher, agree as well. With a little pressure from meddling friends Clint and Natasha- who were convinced that Steve and Tony were perfect for each other despite them making their feelings about the other quite clear- Bruce claimed he was sick and stuck Tony in his place.

Of course, he wasn’t sick enough to not teach his class, just too sick to sit in a room with a friend and plan a party.

So the men finally met, and it was terrible. Not only were they opposite in their teaching style, but their personalities, too. Steve wanted blue and white streamers, Tony wanted red and gold. Steve wanted classic christmas music, Tony wanted rock covers. Steve insisted there be no alchohol, Tony nearly fainted.

They did agree there would be no santa, though during that Tony was secretly canceling his amazon order for a sexy santa costume. “Yeah, no, totally, that would be lame. You’re right. Pfft.”

Clint had almost lost faith when the two had a big fight in the teacher’s lounge, chewing each other out about much more than the party. The fight ended with Tony giving up and telling Steve he could do whatever he wanted, in much less friendly terms. Natasha assured Clint that this was all a part of the plan.

Two days before the end of the semester and the party Steve was walking to make more copies of the exam when he heard Tony having a stern talk with one of his students. He had no problem with discipline, but with Stark’s record he got angry, fast, and was about ready to round the corner and defend the kid, when Tony sighed in defeat.

“Listen, Peter, I know I can be tough on everyone, especially you, but that’s only because I believe in you, a lot. You’re brilliant, you know that? Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do this stuff, that it’s just too hard. I’ve seen all the work you’ve been doing in class- but this exam? It’s not you. You deserve a better grade. Tell me what’s up.”

The boy drew in a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, Mr. Stark. I wanna do well, I really do. It’s just, my uncle…” His voice cracked and he trailed off.

“Alright, come here.” Tony mumbled and Steve peeked around the corner to see the older man pull his student into a tight hug. “It’s alright. You don’t have to take the exam right now, we’ll work it out. How’s your aunt May, she alright? Still can’t believe she’s your _aunt_ , by the way. I’ll give her a call and we’ll work it out. Hey,” he held Peter by his shoulders and bent down a little so they were the same height, “it’s gonna be alright.”

Steve walked away, quickly, almost forgetting the copies entirely. He felt like an ass.

 

Tony showed up to the christmas party half way through and only because he promised Pepper he would make an appearance. He didn’t want to run into any blond-haired beauties who absolutely hated him, or see the great party said beauty probably pulled off without Tony’s help. When he got to it he was surprised, to say the least.

Not only were most of Steve’s ideas present throughout the party, but almost every single one of Tony’s was present as well, and they didn’t come together to form a mess. He got stopped by a few colleagues thanking him for putting on such a great party, many of them drunk, before he found Steve fussing over the music.

“What’s your DJ name?” Tony smirked as he came up besides the taller man.

Steve looked up, surprised. “Uh.”

“You know: skrillex, deadmau5… I have no idea who they are but I’ve found them written on my desks a lot.” He scratched the back of his head. “How about we call ya  _ the captain _ ? Not so lame, I don’t think.”

“The Captain?” Steve tilted his head.

“You didn’t… know they call you that.” Tony sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Sorry, yeah, some of us call you  _ Captain America _ .”

Steve paused, then crossed his arms. “Why?”

“Because, I don’t know. You’re the history teacher, and you’re all… America’s great and we win everything and… land of the free…” Tony trailed off awkwardly, not wanting to make eye contact.

There was another pause before Steve started laughing, to Tony’s surprise. “Very funny. But I don’t think America’s that amazing, we never have been, and we’re certainly not number one. I can tell you a thing or two about what the curriculum would like you to think, but I always make sure to teach our failures and our mistakes.”

Tony’s mouth hung open slightly. “I’m a complete ass.”

“Tony-”

“No, it’s true, I’m an ass. I was a dick to you based on judgements I had- I’d never even met you! But you’re a great guy, and you’re good with your kids and make them care about history- who knew they was possible- and you threw this stupid sweet great party when I just gave up-”

“I did the same thing, Tony. I was highly judgemental with no basis, but I can see now that I was wrong about you-”

“No, you were right.” Tony waved his hands dismissively.

“Tony,” Steve anchored his hands on the other man’s shoulders, “you are a  _ great _ teacher, and you had great ideas- I was just too harsh on you. The music was definitely a good call, for one.” He laughed, nodding towards their drunk colleagues dancing around to the rock covers of christmas songs.

“Say, got anything slow on there?” Tony smirked.

Steve smiled, “yeah, I think so.” He cued up a slow song and let Tony lead him out to the center of the room. “I have to warn you, I don’t know how to dance.”

“Neither do I.” Tony laughed, wrapping his arms around Steve and letting them sway. Across the room Natasha threw back a shot and threw a  _ told you so _ at Clint, who handed her ten bucks.

 

-

 

“After that, we started going to dinner and never stopped,” Steve sighed and paused. “Alright, get your books out, pages 84 through 89.”

“Wait! What else happened?” Alexis burst out. “What was your first date like? When did you move in together? Who proposed?” 

“Yeah, we need more!” Kids started saying.

“Maybe next class.” Steve laughed. “Get to work!”


End file.
